Elena Viramontes’ Use of Literary Devices in The Moths

The short story,” The Moths” written by Elena Viramontes is a story that uses many elements of literature to address points such as religion, death, family, and coming of age of a fourteen-year-old chicana. The girl finds spiritual knowledge and understanding of who she is through the help of her curandera grandmother. Some of these elements include, flashbacks, imagery, and symbolism. The author uses these elements to tell a story of how unfortunate circumstances can sometimes promote spiritual healing and coming of age.

The narrator of the story is a young girl whose name is never revealed to the audience. The author portrays the girl to be rebellious, mischievous, and resistant to follow her family’s rules and expectations. The author uses flashbacks to accurately describe the narrator’s character and values to the readers. The first instance of these flashbacks is when the narrator describes how her sisters would call her by the nickname,” Bull Hands” and explains how she would carry a piece of brick in her sock to hit her sisters with when they called her this. She recalls her mother beating her so often for fighting with her sisters that she became, “used to it.” The narrator also uses flashbacks to describe how she was resistant to follow religion like her traditional Mexican American family expected her to. She includes a memory of her father and how he would, “scream that if I didn't go to mass every Sunday to save my goddamn sinning soul, then I had no reason to go out of the house.” Her father is a Chicano and upholds cultural norms through manipulation. Her father , “strategically directed his anger at Amá for her lousy ways of bringing up daughters, being disrespectful and unbelieving” as a way to manipulate the girl to follow the religious expectations of their culture. She explains how she did not like going to church and would not pay attention or take anything seriously when she was made to go. These flashbacks are used by the author to describe the girl’s views on family and religion in the past and how she was rebellious at home and with the religious obligations of her Mexican-American culture. However, the girl also shares flashbacks with her grandmother. These flashbacks are the few that expose another side of the girl, one that is peaceful and calm. She tells the audience that going to her grandmother's home was an escape from the discipline at home and was the place where she felt at peace and free from the problems she faced with family and religion.

The author also uses imagery to address the coming of age of the girl. The flashbacks describe the girl as a difficult and problematic child. However, there is a change once the girl begins caring for her dying grandmother. The most salient images throughout the story involve nature and her grandmother’s garden. The girl mentions planting many herbs and vegetables when she would be taking care of her grandmother. She states, “I'd gladly go help Abuelita plant her wild lilies or jasmine or heliotrope or cilantro or hierbabuena in red Hills Brothers coffee cans.' She also mentions spending a majority of the time spent with her grandmother on her front porch. They would spend most of their time outside in nature, and the girl would watch the chayotes grow and their vines spreading all around the perimeter of her grandmother’s house. This imagery of nature is very significant for the point of coming of age in this story. The scenic imagery allows the reader to realize a shift in the character of the girl, from being on edge and mischievous to being calm and at peace when spending time with her grandmother.

The author also uses symbolism to address death and religion in this story as well as coming of age. For instance, the girl watches the sun set and states that when it sets it “finally sinks into the realization that it cannot, with all its power to heal or burn, exist forever.” This realization is symbolic of her eventual understanding of her grandmother's death. She starts to come to the understanding that nothing in life is permanent and that things must come to an end so that new growth can take place. The reader is able to partially see some of the growth that comes after the grandmother’s death. The girl calls out for her mother when she carries her grandmother to the bathroom to bathe her. She admits to the audience that she wants her mother present when she is grieving which signifies the growth of a more positive relationship with her mother. Furthermore, when bathing her grandmother after her death, the girl describes grey moths flying out of her mouth. These moths are symbolic of the grandmother’s newfound freedom from the pain she endured. Not only is the grandmother free from her cancerous pain, but also the pain that the girl does not know of. The girl finds many scars across the grandmother’s back when beginning to bathe her which give insight that there was a lot that remains unknown about the pain the grandmother previously endured long before her cancer. The moths are also seen by the girl, “fluttering to light, circling the single dull light bulb of the bathroom.” this scene and imagery of the moths flying to the light is symbolic of the grandmother making her way up to God as she passes away. The girl uses the symbol of the moths to promote the idea that organized religion is not needed to be able to spiritually find God. She previously describes her grandmother making her feel safe and secure, “like God was supposed to make you feel.” After finding her grandmother, the girl describes washing and preparing her body, “with the sacredness of a priest preparing his vestments.” Finally, the narrator’s submerged body in the bath can be symbolic of a baptism. The girl find’s God with the love she has for her grandmother and is spiritually reborn through the love and memories they shared.

The author uses literary elements such as flashbacks, imagery, and symbolism to accurately represent the coming of age of the girl. These elements impact the messages of family, religion, and death in relation to the coming of age of the young girl as well. Throughout the story the girl can be viewed by the audience as growing and changing as she surrounds herself with her grandmother, and spiritually heals and regenerates when discovering that her grandmother has passed away.